Monday, March 16, 2009

Peanut Butter

I've been out of town for my sister's wedding!! Therefore, this is late and will be short. :)

What are YOUR thoughts on natural vs. Skippy (etc.) peanut butter?

18 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Oops too many typos above, sorry.

    Natural!!!!!!!
    Why eat the junk food variety when the natural is so delicious and good for you?
    My brand choices: Adam's or Kirkland organic.

    I do HATE mixing in the oil. My in-laws dump the oil off. I think they don't know you are supposed to mix it in. The peanut butter turns fairly brick like, which is even worse. So I guess I can put up with mixing the oil;-).

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  3. Anna, I was emailed your comment as an administrator and agree 100%! All natural -- all the way! I get Costco (Kirkland brand). It tastes so much better to me. I actually pour out a little of the oil off the top when I open it as well... I think the oil may turn some people away from natural, but it really is the best way to go. Its the hydrogenated fats that I most def. am trying to stay away from. and the added sugar.

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  4. Yeah, I don't pour out all the oil... just some of it. I mix it in and then turn the jar upside down to let it mix in and not settle. I microwave it sometimes when it gets to the bottom (but make sure ALL the foil is off. -- I learned that the hard way.)

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  5. Natural. If it isn't sweet enough just add honey. Make sure to look at the label because some of the "natural" ones add sugar. We stir in the oil, all of it. Now I want to go have some toast with peanut butter. Yum!

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  6. Oh, thanks for the microwave tip! The last little bit is always too dry. My hubby is the only one who noticed or cares that we switched. He likes the Skippy. Funny because he grew up with natural peanut butter, then married me, who didn't even know about natural. So I'm the one who got him hooked on the sugary kind in the first place. :)

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  7. I love the natural stuff. Well, I also love Jif, but I can't take the sugar anymore.

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  8. I too, love the natural. My grocery store has the machine filled with peanuts and then you turn it on and it grinds the peanut butter right there. The MOST delicious!

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  9. Kamilah - No way! I've never heard of such a thing! I want to find one of those around here. My kids would love to watch that action. So would I. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. I wonder if it would work in a meat grinder or food processor? Maybe I have an experiment on my hands: homemade peanut butter.

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  11. I found a great gadget at the kitchen store at the Festival in Abingdon. It is a screw on lid with a "hook" on the inside. The lid attaches to the jar of peanutbutter and stirs without the oil spilling everywhere. Very cool

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  12. Anna - I saw on Good Eats the other day that Alton Brown made cashew butter using a food processor. Maybe check out his site on Food Network for a peanut butter "recipe". Let us know if you experiment.

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  13. So I took a minute to pull out my "Jif" peanut butter and my "Smuckers" all natural peanut butter.
    If we are compairing calories, based on a 2 Tbsp. serving size, the natural has more calories 210 vs. 190. They both have the same amount of fat - 16g. "Jif" then takes the lead in everything else, but not by much. It's Sat. Fat is only 0.5g higher, sodium 30mg higher, carb. 1g higher, sugar 2g higher. They are the same on fiber at 2g and natural has 1g higher of protein.
    The "Jif" does have a few more things added other than peanuts and salt - molasses, fullly hydrogenated vegetable oils, and mono-and diglycerides. BUT it is less than 2%.
    I'm going to call this one on the side of moderation/a draw. Getting as natural as possible is best, but the differences I see here are so minor that I think I'm going to focus on the much bigger offenders in my pantry.

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  14. We've only done the first step. I buy Natural Skippy. It's just so sweet and yummy and doesn't need to be stirred.

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  15. Meg, thanks for your label breakdown. There are definitely bigger offenders than peanut butter.

    Nichole, I'll have to check out the natural Skippy. So, does that mean it doesn't need to be refrigerated either? That's my biggest gripe about natural. It's harder to spread because it's cold.

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  16. A lady in our ward has a peanut butter mill that grinds the roasted peanuts into peanut butter. I have seen a peanut and almond butter maker in Utah health food stores. I know for sure that Good Earth had one (if it is still around).

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  17. i'm a natural girl as well - love grinding my own at whole foods, used to do it at good earth when i lived in UT like likely suggested. lately i've been loving skippy natural, i think it's a pretty good solution if you're not ready to abandon skippy but want a more natural option. no hydrogenated oils which is what i try to avoid and also no need to stir so it's not annoying. i don't refrigerate mine, but i'm not sure if i shoud be doing that? it does have added sugar though, 3 grams per serving. jif has 4 grams per serving but always tastes way too sweet and kind of plasticky to me, i'm not sure if that makes sense. anyway - hooray for yummy peanut butter!

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  18. I just found your blog. I lived in Montana for a while and found a brand called Adams natural peanut butter. I grew to love it. Now, natural is what I eat!

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